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Put t'kettle on. It's time for a natter.

REVIEW: Shine

I always approach self-help books with a pinch of salt but I can’t deny that sometimes they are just what you need. And sometimes you find one that is such a gem that you feel incredibly guilty for all of your earlier skepticism about self-help books. I felt this way when I read Ice Cream for Breakfast last year and I felt it more recently when I read Shine.

Shine is un-put-down-able. So much so, that I actually got sun burn because I was so engrossed in reading it that I didn’t realise how long I had been sat in the sun for. I wouldn’t recommend burnt shoulders, but I would recommend Shine. You see, Shine is all about finding a way to inject a little more happiness into your life. It also hopes to help you gain a little more energy and purpose. I certainly had a little more spring in my step after reading it and hope to apply some of the lessons that I have learnt from it into my everyday life. In fact, my copy is already a little battered because I loved it so much!

This book is co-authored by Gavin Oattes, a comedian, and and Andy Cope, who has a PhD in happiness. I really liked the way the two voices interacted in Shine, as Gavin’s humour was balanced by Andy’s science. The result is a funny, sweary, no holding back conversation between two friends that you feel completely welcome to. It feels very cohesive, which must have been tricky to achieve and therefore is a real testament to their talent.

Self help this may be but this doesn’t feel like preaching. Instead, it feels like the jolly good talking to a trusted friend could give you when you feel like your life is in a bit of slump. It’s all about small but impactful changes that you can make to make your life a little more positive. There are small activities throughout the book, so that you can start making those changes immediately. There are also plenty of quotations to keep you motivated or perhaps just to make you chuckle.

That does not mean that the book doesn’t shy away from the big things however. The authors are not afraid to give their frank opinions and, while I might not 100% believe everything they’ve said, I do appreciate their candour and found myself nodding along to most of it. They also went all in with the science but in a really accessible way. I really admired the way that they trusted their readers to keep up with the science behind their theories and suggestions. It gave me a lot of faith in their work and who doesn’t want to trust the Doctor of Happiness?

I like to fill my life with as much positivity as possible (that’s even why I run this blog!) and shine has just given it a big injection of that! It will be taking pride of place on my bookshelves so that I can grab it whenever I need a boost.